


Persona 5 one shots

by Lunatic_Shipper



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Dom/sub, F/F, Fluff, M/M, Matchmaking, Most of these are confessions tbh, None of these are beta read, Smut, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-24
Updated: 2019-09-30
Packaged: 2020-09-25 02:20:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20369041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunatic_Shipper/pseuds/Lunatic_Shipper
Summary: So I haven't written anything in like 3 months and then I got *really* into the Persona 5 fandom and have written 3 oneshots and have more ideas already so yeah





	1. Let Me Help You

**Author's Note:**

> Okay I know that the protagonist has 2 names buuut I prefer Akira so that's the one I'm using

No one's P.O.V~

They are nearly done with the latest Palace. They have found the treasure, and started the unavoidable fight with the Palace's owner. But this is where everything starts to go wrong. Halfway through the fight they start having trouble. Their health is nearly down to zero but everyone else's health is low as well. Which is what has brought Akira to his current predicament.

Akira's P.O.V~

Everyone's health is low. I'd love to swap them out to keep them safe but I can't right now. Looking around at my party quickly I make a quick check on everyone. Panther and Morgan can take maybe two more hits, Morgan is down on SP and Panther isn't fairing much better maybe two or three attacks left in her. I could give either of them an item but it wouldn't do much good as they wouldn't recover much. I'm at about half my health so you could say I'm in the best shape right now. But I barely have enough SP for one more summon, not even any of the stronger attacks either. But Skull...

Skull is in the worst shape. He has absolutely no SP left and he couldn't take another hit. He had 3 hp left. Unfortunately the three of us had already taken our moves so we can't heal him. Nor would him healing himself do any good as we used all the big healing items earlier in the fight. I had him keep his guard up with a vain hope that the attack might miss and I can try and heal him immediatley. The attack doesn't miss and the block doesn't do nearly enough to save him. He collapses to the ground and my heart just stops. I spare a second to look down at him, his lips busted and bleeding slightly, his jeans are ripped and I can see blood under both rips but especially his left leg. Underneath his masks looks like a forming black eye. I have to fight back the urge to run to his side. I hate seeing him hurt but I can't afford to help him right now or everything will be lost. I look to Morgan and Panther to see them both staring down at Skull. "Panther..." My voice is suprisingly harsher than usual. She snaps her head to look up at me. "Joker?" I tear my eyes away from Skull's limp body. "He's weak to my persona so I want you to use the last of your SP to attack him and then pass the baton to Mona." I turn to face Mona who was already listening in. "Once she passes you the baton I want you to use the last of your SP as well. Once you do that pass the baton to me I'll knock him down after that." Both of them nod, understanding the plan. "Carmen!" Panther rips the mask off her face, burning them. Mona follows suit whipping a strong wind past them. Next it's my turn I reach up to my mask, glance down at Skull and rip it off my face. "Jack Frost!" He freezes them causing them to fall over. Without a second thought I call an all out attack.

We manage to take them down so while everyone else confronts them I run over to Ryuji while they handle that. Once the castle starts to collapse I tell Morgan to pick up the treasure while I run out with Ryuji in my arms. I exit first and lean him on the wall in the alley way outside the school building. Everyone else splits off quickly leaving just me, Ann and Mona stood behind me awkwardly. "Ann. Would you mind taking Morgana home, just for tonight? Is that okay?" Ann nods softly and picks Morgana up. "Of course not Akira. Take care of Ryuji okay? Wait but what about his mum?" I hold my phone up. "His phone died the other week and he needed to phone her so I just told him to just make a contact cause I was sure he'd need it again." She nods in understanding. "Okay. I'll see you two on monday." I nod slightly and help the barely concious Ryuji stand up. Ann runs up to me quickly and hugs me gently. "He'll be okay Akira." I nod slightly. "I just hate seeing him like this. Now I know how you feel with what happened to Shiho." Ann smiles softly. "I knew you liked him." I nod slightly, feeling my cheeks heat up. "I should take him back. Sojiro already won't be too happy about another kid in his cafe. Better not add being late on top of that." Ann nods and releases me. "We'll see you on monday Aki." With that we split off.

I manage to get Ryuji back to Le Blanc with only a few stares from people who saw us. It musn't be as late as I thought as there are still a few customers in the cafe. "Ah you're... what the hell happened?" He gestures to the once again unconcious Ryuji. "Did you do this?" I shake my head furiously. "Never!" He stares at me for a second before believing me. "Then what happened?" I think for half a second before coming up with a sort of believable lie. "We were stood on the top of the school steps talking when the track team ran past us. One of them accidentally pushed Ryuji and he fell down the steps. I was hoping you'd let him stay here tonight so I could patch him up and keep an eye on him?" Sojiro grumbles a little, sighs and then nods. "Fine. Only because he's you're friend if he was a rando I'd be sending him on his way." I nod quickly. "Thank you." I sit him on the bottom step gently. "Sorry to bother you could you keep an eye on him while I go get some stuff to help him?" He sighs and gestures towards the kitchen. "First aid kit in the top cupboard it should have everything you need and you can use the ice in the freezer for his black eye." I nod again and move into the kitchen after checking on Ryuji quickly.

Once I reach for the first aid kit, Sojiro starts clearing out the cafe. Once it's empty he turns back to me. "You can patch him up down here and he can sleep wherever you choose." He moves into the kitchen and picks up a plate. "There was some leftover curry today so if he wakes up I suppose he can have some and as always you can have coffee." I nod quickly and place Ryuji on one of the booth seats. Sojiro sits on one of the bar stools watching as I start patching the blonde up. I feel my face heat up a little as I clean the blood off of his lip. I move over to the freezer and pick out some ice before wrapping it in a towel to place on his eye for a little bit. I need to clean his legs up as well, but not only is Sojiro still in the cafe I don't really want to remove his pants while he's basically knocked out. Instead I sat next to him and hold the make-shift ice pack to his eye. "You like him don't you?" I flinch at the broken silence and look up at Sojiro. "Don't bother hiding it you brat. I'm fine with it." I shake my head slightly. "It's not that it's just.... he's my best friend, the first person who when I came here didn't see me as 'the freak with the criminal record' or 'the trouble kid' or say that I'd punch them if they look at me." I look back down at Ryuji, smiling softly glaf to see that the swelling in his eye had gone down a little. I stand up and drop the ice into the sink before starting to talk again. "Even you didn't give me that benefit when I got here. Not that I blame you of course. I was more than thankful that you would even think of taking me in. Nevermind trusting me. But Ryuji wasn't like that." Sojiro sighs but stands up and moves towards the door. "Look I get where you're coming from. But I can't be much help as you can expect I don't have much experience with meaningful relationships. So just... I dunno. Do you whatever you feel is best I guess." With that he left the cafe locking the door behind him. I sighed to myself before shaking Ryuji slightly. He stirs slightly. "Akira...?" I nod slightly. "Look this is an awkward question but your legs are injured and I can't patch them up as you are now." Ryuji seems to blush a little bit but nods in understanding. He struggles but manages to take his jeans off. "Sorry about this Ryuji." Ryuji shakes his head slightly. "It's okay Kira. Thanks for helping me, sorry to make you do this." I shake my head slightly as I reach for the wipes. "It's fine Ryu. I want to help you. But this might get a little awkward. Can you.... can you turn to face me so I can patch up your legs...?" I keep my head pointed at the ground refusing to look up as he turns around. I pick up the first aid kit off the table. Luckily his right leg is just scratched up a clean and a couple plasters should do it. But his left leg is covered in dried blood from the wound on the side. Luckily however it isn't too deep. "I need to clean off your wound and all the dried blood so sorry but this might sting a little." He hums slightly seemingly going back to unconcious.

But, as soon I placed the antiseptic on the cuts he shot up in suprise. "Woah, Dude you could've warned me." I look at him quickly. "Ah! Sorry." As soon as I look up I start blushing madly. I notice a blush on Ryuji's face as well. "Akira...." I scramble back for a second. "S-Sorry!" "It.... It's fine." I sit up a little bit. "Sorry. I still need to sort out your legs." Ryuji nods slowly so I move forwards again. I try and fight back my blush as I finish cleaning the cuts on his right leg, placing plasters on the none scabbed ones. I grabbed another wipe, some bandages and moved closer to his left leg. "This one will sting more sorry." After warning him I start wiping around the cut to clean it, apologising when Ryuji hisses slightly. Once I had finished cleaning around the cut I wrapped it up.

I binned the used wipes and placed the furst aid kit back in the cupboard. "You hungry? Sojiro said that since there was spare curry you could have some. That's what he said but I think he was secretly worried about you." Ryuji nods a little. "Please." Nodding I help him sit up and move back into the kitchen. I plate up some of the curry and place it down infront of him. Once he starts eating I turn around to make myself some coffee. "This curry is soooooo good." I smile at him as I sit down across from him. He smiles at me a little. "Sorry Akira but.... I heard you talking with the old man." I feel my heartbeat speed up. "How much did you hear?" Ryuji blushes a little, although he looks a little disheartened. "Not too much just him not having experience with real relationships and telling you you should do what you feel is best." I nod slightly blushing heavily. "So.... who is it you like? I assume it's one of the theives right?" I blush deeper and nod slightly. His expression become even more disheartened which hurts me to look at. "So who is it? Ann?" I shake my head. "Who is it then?" I pause blushing more. "What? Do you think I'm gonna tell 'em?" I shake my head quickly. "No that's not it!" I take a few sips of my coffee to calm myself down. "Then what is it? You embarressed?" I blush and start drinking my coffee again. Which cause Ryuji to start laughing and the sound is like heaven to my ears. "Wait Dude seriously?" I sigh slightly. "I'm not embarressed just this person means a lot to me, I don't want to ruin our friendship hell I don't even know if he likes guys." I clamp my hand over my mouth quickly. Ryuji's eyes open wide. I down my coffee and quickly move behind the counter to busy myself with making another one.

It doesn't work too well because Ryuji sits at the stool across from me. "Akira are you gay?" I nod silently as I pour my coffee. He stands up from his seat and moves around the counter. I freeze slightly not knowing what he's going to do. Before I know it he snakes his hands around my waist, standing behind me. He rests his chin on my shoulder which is all he can do with our hight difference. Unfortunately that means his mouth is right next to my ear so that when goes to speak he'll speak right into my ear. Great. Just my luck. "Hey Akira." I don't answer him immediately so he tries again. "Hey Joker." I tense for a second I was not expecting that. He laughs and it's a heavenly sound. "Hey Joker can I ask you something?" I nod, still not turning to face him. "Come on face me.... please?" I curse myself silently but turn to face him none the less. At least he isn't whispering directly into my ear anymore. However now he's stood infront of me in just a shirt and his boxers and god dammit brain now is not the time to realise how good he looks. He looks up at me and smirks to himself. "What you thinking about Joker?" I bite my lip to hide back my answer. "Aww come on. Anyway do you wanna know what I was going to ask you?" I nod silently. He leans forwards slightly, his hands moving from my waist to my neck to pull me down so I was looking him in the eyes. "Is it me you like?" I feel my face start burning and my heart beat stutters. "Answer me Akira." I take a deep breath, ruffling the hair that falls on his forhead. "Yes." He smiles at me brightly before pulling me neck so my lips collided with his. I waisted little time in kissing back before we had to pull away for air. "Does that mean...?" He laughs slightly. "Kira why do you think I got so flustered earlier while you were patching up my legs. You were sat right infront of me with that stupid blush spread across your cheeks and I just couldn't help but think how good you looked there. I smirked lightly and couldn't help but realise how long he's been in control of the situation. I am supposed to be the leader after all. I spin him round so his back is up against the counter. "You really think you'll be topping Ryu?" He blushes immediately. "Why not?" I place my hands on his hips firmly and lean down to his neck. "Akira what are you....?" I cut him off by biting on his neck gently. He moans a little so I lean back and smirk at him. He rolls his eyes and leans back onto the counter. "Okay.... I see your point." I smirk down at him again. "Good." I lean down to his ear. "I'm glad you at least know how to follow orders Skull." He shivers slightly so I lean back again. "Come on you should get some rest. "I phoned your mum on the way over here so she knows where you are." He pouts slightly as I move back. "Aww what's wrong does baby want a kiss?" He laughs a little but nods his head anyway. I chuckle and give him what he wants. "You're gonna become a spoiled little thief aren't you." He laughs a little bit before nodding. "Depends on how you treat me Leader." I just sighed and picked him up. "Come on I wasn't kidding you need to rest." He snickers slightly. "Awww how sweet to be taken care of by my boyfriend." I roll my eyes blushing slightly. Making sure to pick up his jeans to avoid any unwanted questions from Sojiro I carry him upstairs to my room. I finally change out of my school uniform and turn to Ryuji to see him blushing heavily. "Did.... Did you watch me Ryuji?" His blush darkens. I move over to my bed where he's sat and push him down. "Was it a good show at least?" His blush somehow deepens even more. "Well?" He nods his head silently. Hmm I can tease him for a little longer. "I didn't hear an answer Ryu." He turns his head to the side to avoid answering me. I climb on top of him so he can't avoid looking at me. "Come on don't be like that I want an answer." He looks back to me but stays silent so I lean a little closer. "You wouldn't defy an order from your Leader, would you Skull?" He takes a breath and answers. "It was a brilliant show my magnificant Leader." I smile down at him brightly. "There you go baby." I gave him a quick peck before getting off of him. "Do you need any spare clothes to sleep in?" His now pale face reddens again. "I.... Uh I usually just sleep in my boxers." I smirk slightly and head back over to my bed. "Alright then." With that I climbed into bed with my boyfriend and fell asleep.

The next morning I woke up before Ryuji which honestly doesn't surprise me that much. I got dressed quickly and left some of my clothes that should fit him before heading downstairs. "Oh you're up. Is your friend okay?" I nod quickly before leaning on the counter. "Yep. Also he's uh.... he's my boyfriend now." He smiles at me a little before coughing and going back to his straight face. "Well congrats glad that all worked out. We still have a little while before we open so feel free to practice your coffee making." I nod slightly and move behind the counter. "Sure, is my coffee good enough yet for you to want a cup?" He grumbles a little before handing me some coffee. "Here try making this one today." I nod quickly taking it from him and get to work. A few minutes before opening I handed him a cup. "Try that." He narrows his eyes at me before trying it. He sighs but nods his head in approval. "I admit you've gotten pretty gpod you brat." I smile at him slightly. "Am I okay to sit at one of the booths?" He rolls his eyes but waves his hand in dissmissal. I thank him and grab a book from the bookshelf before sitting down. "How come you're not upstairs with your new boyfriend." I blush slightly at the word but answer none the less. "Cause he's still asleep and I don't want to wake him. He took a nasty fall after all so I want to let him rest a little longer." Sojiro just nods his head, finishes his coffee and goes to flip the open sign. "You can sit at the booth as long as you don't bother the customers alright?" I nod silently and open my book. I hear him flip the open sign before zoning out and focusing on the book.

A little while later I'm startled by someone snatching my book away from me. I look beside me to see Ryuji pouting at me. "Aww sorry did I ignore you?" He nods jokingly causing me to laugh. Alright come on lets go upstairs so you don't bug the customers with your loudness. I laugh slightly as he follows me up the stairs grumbling about not being loud. Once we get upstairs we drop down onto my bed. "You look super cute in my clothes. After all they're huge on you." He pouts and just pulls me into a hug. "Cuddle with me I'm still sore from that Palace yesterday." I nod slightly and wrap my arms around his waist after pulling the blanket over us. He soon falls asleep on me so I decide to take a nap as well. After all it is only 7am. I take one last look down at my boyfriend smiling down at him. I place a kiss on his head before heading back to sleep myself.


	2. Match Makers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ann and Shiho want to finally get Akira and Ryuji together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I like giving Akira symptoms of anxiety but yeah

No one's P.O.V~

Ryuji and Ann are waiting for Akira to finish his last meeting with the teachers. It's the last day of the first month so they're going to celebrate that he's done with the meetings. Ryuji and Ann are talking about the Palace they're working through at this point. That is until Shiho jumps onto Ann. "Shiho!" The blonde quickly turns around to give her girlfriend a hug. "How are you?" Shiho smiles at her sweetly, as always. "I'm good. What are you two still doing here?" Ryuji jabs his finger in the direction of the front entrance. "It's Akira's last meeting so the three of us are going to celebrate. Wanna come with?" Shiho nods slightly. "If that isn't too much of a bother?" Ann shakes her head quickly. "Don't worry you're not intruding or anything. Mishima and Yusuke are coming too but Mishima is coming later and obviously Yusuke wanted to get out if his uniform first." Shiho giggles then nods her head. "Then yeah sure." They sat in a comfortable silence for the last few minutes. As soon as they hear the doors opening they watch silently as Akira walks out and sighs in relief. "That went well." Morgana pokes his head out of his bag immediately and agrees. Akira laughs at Morgana slightly. "Couldn't wait a second more could you?" He asked stroking his head. Morgana only let him and Ann do that. Akira looks up from Morgana to see the three watching him. "What?" Ryuji shakes his head quickly. "Nothing. Now lets get going those two are gonna meet us there." Akira nods his head silently. He looks behind Ryuji to see Ann and Shiho. "You joining us Shiho?" She nods slightly so Akira just smiles to reassure her. Ryuji curses himself for the small pang of jealousy he feels. The two girls follow the boys to the movie theater and wave at the two already there. 

As they leave the theatre Akira looks up at the sky then checks the time. "Ah shoot I need to get back. I told Sojiro I'd let him now how the meeting went today and Leblanc closes in 40 minutes." The 5 nod in understanding and watch as Akira runs off towards the station. Yusuke and Mishima head home next but Ann and Shiho drag Ryuji somewhere else before he can head home. "Where are you taking me. "We're gonna try and catch Akira's train. "What why? That's creepy even for you." Ann rolls her eyes. "He lives above a coffee shop right? We'll just get some coffee. But I want to meet the man who took him in." Ryuji groans knowing there was somethjng else to it. She turned slightly. "Okay fine." She relents still running. "I have three reasons. One is just to meet him. Another is to make sure he isn't as neglectful as his parents. Because seriously they haven't phoned him once in the month he's been here." Ryuji nods silently as they manage to slip into the half full train. They see Akira sat on one of the seats his nose buried in a book. This causes Ryuji to smile at him a little. Ann speaks up upon seeing this. "That's the third reason." He snaps his head towards the two girls. Shiho just giggled a little. "What do you mean?" Ann rolls her eyes accompanied with a heavy sigh. "You like him." Ryuji blushes but before he can deny her accusation his leg gives in after all the running and he collapses to the floor of the train. "Shit! Ryuji I'm sorry I completely forgot about your leg." He waves her apology away. "It's fine let's just hope that...." He cuts himself off quickly when he hears a familiar voice above him. "Ryuji are you okay?" He nods slightly sending a death glare to Ann who had crouched down next to him after he fell. "Was it your leg? Cause you all look like you were running." He nods again, unsuprised that Akira can tell so easily what happened. "Why were you running?" He finally looks up at him to see him starting to kneel down infront of him. "I wanted to meet Sojiro but I didn't want to ask you or do so on my own so I dragged these two with me." Ryuji let out a breath that Ann had told him. That way he didn't have to try and explain or lie. Akira hums slightly not believing that that is all there is too it. He shrugs, deciding not to ask. "How's your leg Ryuji?" Is what he asks instead. Ryuji shrugs a little. "It's fine." Akira just rolls his eyes at him. "Okay sure but having it positioned like that isn't going to help. Ryuji sighed and moved his leg which did help with the pain. A few minutes later and they got off the train when Akira told them too. "Cannot believe you three sometimes." He sighs slightly as he leads them down the backstreets. "I need to make a quick stop on the way is that okay?" They all nod and stop walking when he tells them to. The three wait at some graffitied lockers as Akira turns down the back alley. Ann and Shiho turn to Ryuji quickly. "Anyway the last reason is because I want to set you two up." Ryuji chokes on thin air. "You what!?" Before Ann can answer she hears a door open and Akira yelling a thank you to someone. He leaves the back alley shoving some stuff into his bag and sipping it back up, making sure Morgana can still poke his head out. "Sorry about that." Shiho looks down the back alley curiously. "What did you get?" Akira shrugged a little. "Just some painkillers and Aspirin. I've been getting a lot of headaches recently." She nods her head in understanding but Ann and Ryuji share a look knowing there was something else. As they get to Leblanc, Akira opens the door and walks in. "Ah your home. How did your meeting go?" Akira nods his head and holds up the book Sojiro gave him. "Went great. I'm done with the meetings but I need to keep writing in this." He shoves it back into his pocket as the three behind him share a sad look. "Why've you got three strays with you. Far as I'm aware Morgana was the only one." Akira rolls his eyes slightly. "They're my friends they followed me home because Ann wanted to meet the man crazy enough to take in the freak with the criminal record." Sojiro grumbles at his response but doesn't argue with him. The three share another sad look. "Right I'll tell you what. Because today was your last meeting if they want and their parents allow it they can stay over. I'm heading home now anyway so it's of no concern to me." The three phone or text their parents quickly all of them getting an agreement. Sojiro nods accepting the responses. "Alright then. But you know the rules! You can help yourself to coffee but no curry that's for tomorrows customers. And lock up before you go to sleep." Akira nods quietly as Sojiro leaves. "Thank you!" He adds as Sojiro closes the door. The four can see the old man fighting back a small smile. Akira smiles at the sight causing the others to smile too.

A few seconds after he leaves Akira turns to the others. "You heard the rules but since Ryuji doesn't drink coffee want to go get snacks? The convenience store should still be open for just long enough." With that the three laugh and run out the door. The ravenette just laughs and locks the door after himself. He catches up to the eager teens quickly. It only takes them 10 minutes to go to the convenience store, pick and buy everything then get back to the cafe. Akira locks the door behind them to ensure he doesn't forget later or Sojiro will kill him. He moves behind the counter and picks out his favourite coffee. "Ann, Shiho, I know Ryu won't but do you two want some coffee?" Both girls nod their heads and pick out some coffee. Once they had chosen the three of them watch as Akira gets to work. He realises he's being watched after finishing Shiho's coffee. "Sojiro is particular about how you make coffee here." They nod but still watch in awe as he makes his own coffee. Once they had drank their coffe Akira gestures to the stairs. "It's a pretty crappy setup but I have a TV and a console upstairs. Wanna play?" Ryuji nods almost immediately causing Akira to laugh. Ann nods slightly too. Being friends with Ryuji had given her an appreciation for them even if they aren't really her thing. Shiho nodded as well because Ann agreed. He nods and picks up the cups. "You guys can head up I need to wash these up first. I assume you'll know how to set it up Ryuji?" The blonde nods and leads the girls upstairs while Akira washes the cups.

He gets an idea after putting the last cup out to dry. He dries his hands a little so they aren't dripping but are still slightly wet. He heads upstairs to see Ryuji and Ann playing a game. Shiho notices him first so he makes a motion for her to be quiet and points to the focused boy. She stiffles a giggle but nods. Akira quietly makes his way behind Ryuji and kneels down, sending a smirk to Shiho once he has. She giggles again as he turns back around. He lifts his hands and places them on Ryuji's neck. Not enough to hurt or think he was being attacked obviously, just enough to freak him out. He yelps, drops the controller and turns around angrily only to be met with Akira laughing his head off. Shiho was laughing as well from her position on the couch. Even Ann who had no idea what had happened aas starting to giggle as her girlfriend explained it. Ryuji was starting to blush with all the attention. Said blush was not helped at all by the extremely pretty culprit sat infront of him clutching his stomach. The blonde launched himself at his leader pushing him to the ground. Akira slows his laughing even though he was expecting this reaction. "Dude what the fuck?" Ryuji complains from his position on top of Akira. Akira raises his eyebrow at Ryuji and switches their positions.

Ryuji, who wasn't expecting this could do nothing but admit defeat as Akira sat on top of him. "Aww come on it was funny. Don't be such a baby." Ann and Shiho, however, were definitley expecting Akira's reaction and immediately pull out their phones to start taking pictures. Ann smirks at Shiho as they had made a small bet as to what would happen after Ryuji tackled Akira. Shiho bet that Akira would either admit defeat or push Ryuji off him. Ann, however, knowing how much Akira likes being in control, especially when his Joker personality slips through, bet on exactly what just happened. Shiho just grumbles a little and they tune back in to the squabble between the two boys. Well it isn't a squabble exactly, Ryuji is complaining and Akira is making full use of his sass to bat away his comments. "Akira come on at least get off me." Akira looks down at Ryuji, takes a glance at Ann who he immediately knows is recording the 'fight' and shakes his head. "Nah I don't feel like it." Ryuji groans and asks him again. "Nope what's in it for me?" Ryuji sighs underneath him finally noticing that his Joker personality is slipping through today. Not that he minds. But Joker is somehow even more stubborn than Akira. "I'll tell you what. I'll get off you and if you can win a round." He tosses Ryuji a controller. "I'll stay off of you." Ryuji grumbles and chooses his character. "It's so on Akira." Akira chooses his character as well before turning to Ann. "You better send me that." Ann nods laughing at him.

She likes when Joker slips through more. He's always there, he is a part of Akira's personality after all, but when Akira is less shy and more flirty and jokey it always makes for a good time. The two girls scoot closer watching the boys play. Ryuji got a lucky kill at the beginning putting Akira at a disadvantage. At least that's what Ryuji and Ann assumed. Shiho however noticed what he was doing and smiled to herself. Akira caught sight of it in the reflection of the TV and smirks at her knowing she's figured it out. He simply nods towards the screen telling her to watch. She complies and watches the rest of the fight. Akira kills Ryuji but because of Ryuji's earlier kill they were simply on a level playing field. Akira caught sight of Ryuji's confident smile and smirks to himself. He suddenly faces the TV properly and launches an all out assault against Ryuji. Every attack he has. Ryuji is down to his last life and Akira still has 4. It wouldn't be impossible for Ryuji to pull it back. Just incredibly improbable. Akira smirks to himself as Ryuji loses his last life. He turns to face Ryuji with an innocent smile on his face. Ryuji quickly tries to hide behind Ann but Akira caught his wrist. "A deals a deal. You lost." Ryuji grumbles and complains again as Akira pulls him down to his chest.

A few more rounds are played before they decide instead to watch something instead. Ann picks a show out of Akira's collection. They split up the snacks and all squeeze onto the old couch. Shiho and Ann are cuddled up on one side while Ryuji is still sat in Akira's lap. He gave up complaining a little while ago. After all he's comfy. After only an episode and a half Akira's head dropped onto Ryuji's shoulder. Ryuji jumped in shock but didn't move much more. He looks a lot calmer than he has in a while. Ann smirks at him a little. "You can finally move are you not going to?" Ryuji shakes his head a little, turning it to check on Akira again. "He looks a lot calmer than I've seen him since I met him pretty much. Those meetings and all this probabtion stuff must've really been tiring him out." Ann smiles at his answer. "Cute." Ryuji huffs and turns his head to hide his blush. This was a bad idea as it means Akira is now breathing directly down his neck. He blushes deeper and turns his head back around. Ann raises her eyebrows questionably. "He was breathing right down my neck when I turned my head." Ann smirks slightly at the reaction to which Shiho merely rolls her eyes to. "Shihoooo. Control your girlfriend!" Shiho kicks his leg slightly when Akira starts to stir from the volume of Ryuji's voice. Ryuji sighs slightly but does quiet down. Until Akira moves a little in his sleep. He now has his nose pressed into Ryuji's neck and his grip tightens around Ryuji's waist. Ryuji lets out a small squeal at the contact causing Ann and Shiho to stare at him for a second. Neither of them do anything to help him though. Instead Ann manages to grab her phone and takes picture after picture, making sure to send the best ones to Akira.

They only watch one more episode before the three of them decide to call it a night. Because Ryuji can't move without waking up Akira the two girls handle the cleaing up. Once everything was turned off packed up or thrown away the curled back up on the couch. It doesn't take long for Shiho and Ryuji to fall asleep. Ann is getting tired but isn't quite tired enough for sleep. But just as she starts getting to that point she hears someone apologising. She looks at the three and realises it's coming from Akira. She sits up and goes to wake Ryuji but then realises he probably won't know what to do. Shiho is great at calming people down but she doesn't know Akira that well it might not help and could make it worse. She takes a deep breath and just about manages to wriggle out of Shiho's grip without falling. She stands up and leans over Ryuji to tap Akira on the head. It takes a few more taps but he finally wakes up. He blinks his eyes and soon notices Ann staring at him. "You okay Akira?" He nods slowly. "Yeah sorry for bothering you." She sighs a little and moves Ryuji, not being nearly as careful as she knows he is a very heavy sleeper. She pulls Akira off of the couch and down to the cafe away from the two sleepers. Not before placing Ryuji into a comfortable position.

She and Akira drop into the middle booth once they get downstairs. "There. We're away from those two now. It's just me Akira. So what's wrong?" He shakes his head. "Nothing." She sighs again. "Okay then tell me why you were apologising in your sleep." He freezes a little. "I just..." He's interrupted by a voice from the bottom stair. "What are uou two doing up?" They turn to see Morgana watching them sceptically. "Talking." He nods slightly. "Morgana it's nothing to worry about seriously go back to sleep." Morgana thinks for a second before listening to Akira. "You going to tell me?" Ann asks a few minutes after Morgana leaves. Akira takes a deep breath. "It's nothing big. I just. I was dreaming of my parents. When I got arrested, they couldn't get rid of me quick enough. I don't blame them for being ashamed or annoyed even dissapointed. But I did nothjng wrong. I stopped a woman from being raped and I get arrested. It's bullshit! However no adult that knows about it thinks of it like that." Ann nods slowly. "So why were you aplogising?" Akira sighs. "I was dreaming of the day after. I had to make so many apologies. To my parents, to the victim of my 'attack', to my old school for dragging their name down. I just I hated it so much." Ann places her hand on his in an attempt to keep him calm. It seems to work as he takes a deep breath before continuing. "Now I'm not trying to say I'm above apologising. I'm not. If I'm in the wrong I will apoligise. But I wasn't in the wrong for what I did. Yet every single adult I had ever met thought they deserved an apology. The week in school before I moved here was like hell. I would get detentions for taking to long to answer a question as they would accuse me of cheating to find the answer. The few friends I had made seemed to hate me. Not even they could stand to be anywhere near me. I just. It was hell. It was the longest week of my life everything I said was followed by an apology." Ann sniffs back her tears. "Sorry I didn't mean to upset you. I've just been holding this in for so long I guess I needed to let it out." She looks up at him in shock. "Haven't you told Ryuji about this?" Akira shakes his head. "No. He was the first person I met here that wasn't scared of me. He knew all of the rumors about me and he didn't give a shit. Hell his Persona developed inside of Kamoshida's Palace to help me. He means too much to me and the one thing he's never done that everyone else has is look at me and see the kid with the criminal record. Ann smiles at him softly. "Is that why you haven't confessed to him yet?" Akira nods. She knew about his crush so there was no point in lying. "Yeah. Part of it at least." Ann tilts her head a little bit but doesn't push it. Instead she changes the topic to something lighter. "So, what was all that with Ryuji earlier?" Akira laughs thankful for the change of topic and leans back in the booth. "Don't know what you mean." Ann laughs again. "Oh sure you don't Joker." Akira joins in her laughter and holds up his hands. "I couldn't help it. You know Joker slips through more when Ryuji pulls shit like that. Especially when he tries to steal my control away." Ann laughs a little harder. "You should let Joker out a little more. You might finally have the guts to ask Ryuji out." Akira glared at her playfully as his laughter died out. "Well maybe I will. After all it is fun being Joker." Ann smiles at him happy that he's cheered up. "We should go back up." Akira nods and leads her back upstairs.

Ann goes to curl back up with Shiho but Akira stops her. "Hey Ann...." She turns to him with a small smirk knowing whatever he's about to do will involve embarrasing Ryuji. "How do you think Ryuji would wake up most embarrassed?" Ann smirks and thinks for a second. "Depends. Do you want a quick embarrassament. Or a more long term one?" Joker thinks for a second. "Long term." Ann's smirk grows wider. "Well in that case...." She and Akira lift him off the couch and Akira climbs back on. He pulls Ryuji down with him, wrapping his legs around his waist and resting his head in his neck. Akira looks up to Ann for confirmation. She thinks for a second before speaking. "Pull him closer and leave your head on his neck as well. Oh and he seemed to get embarrased earlier when you breathed down his neck asleep. So make sure you do that." He smirks at her and does as he's told. "Can you take a picture for me?" She smirks again and takes the picture sending it to him immediately. "If you want you two can use the bed. I'm too comfy to move now." Ann smiles and gently picks up her girlfriend. "Thanks Akira." He smiles at her. "No problem." He bites back a joke so Ann takes her leave and curls up with Shiho. Once Shiho had moved Akira stretches his legs out to the other side of the couch. Making sure that Ryuji's legs were still around his waist. He pulls the bottle blonde closer. Pressing a gentle kiss to his hair before falling asleep himself.

The next morning Akira pretends to still be asleep to make sure he gets the most out of Ryuji's reaction. He doesn't have to wait much longer as he feels Ryuji open his eyes. He adjusts his head a little so that his lips where skimming his neck and he was breathing down his neck. Knowing Ryuji can't see him he opens one eye to see Ann watching it play out. He simply closes his eye again as to not give it away. Ryuji goes to pull away in embarrassment but Akira's tight grip on his waist causes him to fall onto his chest. He feels Ryuji squirm so decides to put him out of his misery. Just a little bit. He takes one last breath and moves just an inch so that his lips brush Ryuji's neck before moving away. He opens his eyes to see a very flushed Ryuji sat ontop of him. "A-Akira. Dude let me go. He sneakily chances a glance at Ann who shakes her head, much to Shiho's dismay. Akira shakes his head. "Nah." With that he pulls Ryuji back down and rests his head on his neck again. After a few minutes Ryuji begins to relax again. Akira looks up at Ann and Shiho. Ann looks satisfied but this time it's Shiho that keeps it going. She moves her head and points to his neck. Akira smirks a little bit before turning his head to face Ryuji's neck. Before the now alert Ryuji can do anything he presses his lips to Ryuji's neck. Akira feels his adams apple bob and can tell he likes it but he only does it once more before pulling away. He looks back to Ryuji and smiles innocently. "Dude what the hell?" Akira sighs at the dense boy infront of him. After all today and yesterday aren't the first times he's flirted with Ryuji. "You idiot. I like you Ryuji. A lot. I think love would actually better describe it." Ryuji blushes and mumbles something. Akira has an idea of what he said but is already in a teasing mood. "Sorry I didn't quite catch that?" He hears Ann and Shiho laugh from the other side of the room. Ryuji groans leans down and kisses Akira. "I said I love you too." Akira smiles up at him. "Now you don't have an excuse to move." Ryuji just laughs and drops onto Akira's chest. Akira curls his legs up though so that the girls could come sit down. Akira and Ann share a smile before they start watching the show from yesterday.


	3. Coffee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I dunno what this one is I'll be honest I just wanted more angst but have Ryuji solve it this time

No one's P.O.V~

Ann and Ryuji just manage to get onto the last train. "What took you so long?" Ryuji takes a deep breath and starts massaging his leg a little. "Sorry I was on time but I went to text you that I was on my way but realised I didn't have my phone on me so I had to go back for it." Ann nods slightly. "Alright well how's your leg?" Ryuji shrugs and pulls himself off of the train floor. "It's fine. Just need to rest for a minute." Ann nods and smiles reassuringly. "Alright well we have a while till we need to get off so you can rest it till then." Ryuji nods as the two take a seat. 

The two pass Sojiro as he leaves the cafe. He nods at the two silently before turning down the alley towards his house. Akira opens the door for the two of them. "Thought you two weren't going to show for a minute." Morgana mumbles something under his breath causing Akira to blush and turn back around. "Morgana!" Ann and Ryuji share a look before slipping into the booth. "Don't get upset Akira. He's right after all." He blushes again and turns to Yusuke. "Yusuke! I trusted you!" He sighs dramatically before walking behind the counter. "No coffee for you then. Ann, want some coffee?" She turns to Yusuke sticks her tongue out and nods. "Please." Akira nods, picks out her usual coffee and gets to work. Yusuke sulks in the corner of the booth as he does so, before smiling when Akira places a coffee infront of him. "I'm not that petty. Well I am, but not for what you said." Yusuke thanks him and starts sipping his coffee. Morgana just resigns to snickering as Akira drops into the booth next to Ryuji. "I don't get how you guys can drink that stuff." Ann just rolls her eyes at the blonde. "I mean it smells nice." He glares his at Ann as she raises an eyebrow at him. Because she knows that he doesn't mean that just because Akira always smells like coffee. Although that is definitely part of it. "But it tastes nasty." Akira just laughs and stands up. "Alright come with me." He drags Ryuji out of the booth and moves back behind the counter. "Right these are the sweetest coffees we have. Pick one." Ryuji groans not being able to say no to Akira and does as he's told. Akira makes the coffee puts plenty of milk in it and adds a little more sugar. "Drink." Ryuji stares into the cup and back up to Akira. Their leader just stares at him in return. "Fine!" He picks up the cup and takes a small sip. He places the cup back down and crosses his arms. Akira smiles and leans on the counter. "Well?" Ryuji grumbles and turns back to face him. "Fine! It tastes good." Akira smirks and moves back to his own coffee. Ryuji resigns and moves back to the booth taking the coffee with him. "I'm suprised you made him one he'll drink." Akira turns to Yusuke laughing slightly. "It's a mocha so it's already sweet. With the milk, I washed away the majority of the coffee taste. Plus the extra sugar made sure that any remaining taste would be sweet and not bitter." Yusuke nodded in understanding while Ryuji just silently drinks his coffee. Akira laughs at the silent Ryuji before finishing his coffee. 

Once everyone finishes their coffee, Akira collects their cups and heads to the sink. "You really take that seriously don't you?" Akira nods slightly. "Well I mean Sojiro is only going to yell at me in the morning so I don't see the point in not doing it." While Akira washes the cups, the four thieves are having a talk about the leader himself. "Look. Okay I yield. Yes I like him, a lot. But his friendship is really important to me as well." Yusuke nods his head slightly while Morgana and Ann just sigh. "Ryuji. You're being an idiot." The blonde turns to glare at Morgana. "What?!" Ann nods her head. "I agree. Nothing is going to change between you two. Except there'll be less pining." Ryuji just rubs the back of his neck. "You guys okay? You look really serious." Ryuji just shakes his head. "It's nothing dude don't worry." Akira looks between them all and sighs. "Alright fine then. Keep your secrets." With that he starts heading up the stairs to his room. Morgana jumps off of Ryuji's head to land on Akira's shoulder. "Hey!" Before Morgana can respond Akira whispers something to him. The cat quickly switches shoulders and whispers an apology to Akira as he continues heading up stairs. As the three thieves stand up from the booth they share a worried look before following the two upstairs. 

It doesn't take long for the question to be asked. And to no one's surprise it's Ryuji who asks it. "Akira is something wrong with your shoulder?" Akira looks up from the screen. "No why?" Morgana jumps onto the same shoulder from before. The rest of the theives pay close attention to Akira as he does. He blinks twice before turning back to the screen. To Ann and Yusuke who still can't read him that well they just assume he slept funny and hurt his shoulder a little. Ryuji, however, who has learnt how to read their stoick leader, knows he's lying. "Bullshit! You're hurt." Akira freezes for a second as Morgana moves to his other shoulder. "You should tell them Akira. You've been in pain for 2 days now." Akira groans and turns to the three. "It's nothing my shoulder just got a but bruised during our last trip to Mementos." Morgana hits him with his tail. "Liar. His shoulder was nearly pulled out of it's socket during our last trip. It was not just a bit bruised." Akira scowls at Morgana. "Morgana! I told you I didn't want them to know!" Ryuji falters a little at that. "You didn't want to tell us you were hurt? How stupid can you be?!" Akira turns to him but stays silent. "Why didn't you want us to know?" Ann asks only slightly less annoyed than Ryuji. Morgana jumps off of their leader's shoulder before explaining. "He didn't want you to know because he didn't want to make you guys worry about him." The two sit back for a second. This time it was Yusuke who speaks. "Why?" Akira holds his breath waiting for the silence in the room to break. But as soon as Morgana starts talking he decides he doesn't want to hear it and gets up. Before the others can stop him he's down the stairs and out of the cafe. Morgana finishes explaining before they can run off after him. "I'll go after him. You guys stay here. After all if anything happens the old man will kick Akira's ass." The three nod and watch as Ryuji runs down the stairs and hear the bell above the door as he leaves. "What's the betting those two come back dating?" The two boys chuckle but do place bets. Although, they all bet on the same thing.

It takes Ryuji 15 minutes to find Akira. After all there isn't many places he could've gone. He was sat on a wall down one of the back streets, hidden in the darkness like he does as Joker. Which is probably why Ryuji walked past him twice. He manages to pull himself onto the wall and watches as Akira pulls himself further into the shadows. "Akira please. Talk to me." Akira stays silent for a few seconds. "Why? Morgana explained everything." Ryuji sighs at the ravenette. "Dammit Akira. Talk to me because I want you to. For all I know Morgana could've been talking crap. Please just talk to me." Akira moves a little bit closer to him. "What did Morgana tell you guys?" The blonde lets out a silent cry of relief that Akira was playing ball. "That you hate the feeling of people pitying you. But that you don't want people to worry about you either. That you take care of other people better than you take care of yourself." Akira nods listening silently. "Was he wrong?" Akira shakes his head. "Nope. I didn't tell you guys I was hurt because the thought of you not trusting me enough to lead you to protect you anymore killed me." Ryuji sighs and moves closer to him. "Akira. I will always trust you to lead me. You act like none of us have ever gotten hurt before. You still trust us right?" Akira nods quickly. "Of course I do!" Ryuji nods and joins him in the shadows. "Then why don't you believe that we'll still trust you?" Akira sighs and drops his head onto his knees. "I don't know. But I couldn't take that chance. I needed you guys to trust me. Especially you." Ryuji freezes a little and feels his heart beat speed up. "Wha.... Why me?" Akira blushes a little but turns to face him anyway. "Cause.... Cause I love you Ryuji. I need to be able to protect you even if you don't love me back." Ryuji turns to him quickly. "You.... You love me?" Akira nods slightly. "Yeah. Sorry I didn't want to tell you. But...." Ryuji shakes his head quickly. "Don't apologise. I love you too." Akira stares at him for a second. "Really? Why?" Ryuji just stares at him in shock. "What do you mean why? I mean God where do I even begin. Firstly, your eyes are way too pretty. Secondly, you are both the prettiest and hottest guy I've ever seen. Like seriously it should be illegal to look the way you do. Thirdly, you're personality. You're a snarky smart ass genius and I love it. And Joker is a whole issue on it's own but holy shit that outfit somehow makes you even hotter than usual. I mean even Ann checked you out when she saw you in it for the first time. And she's a lesbian!" Akira kisses him quickly to shut him up. "Sorry, you were rambling about me and it was embarrasing." Ryuji blinks twice before looking back to Akira. "Do it again." Akira blushes before leaning forwards and capturing Ryuji's lips with his own again. The two break apart after a minute and Akira jumps down. "We should get back. Ryuji nods and jumps down as well. "So...." The blonde turns to face Akira and sees a smirk on his face. "They probably made a bet on whether or not we got together." Ryuji just nods his head allowing Akira to continue. "Wanna annoy them and act like it didn't? Just for a little bit obviously." Ryuji just laughs and nods his head. With the agreement made Ryuji walks in and heads back upstairs while he locks the door. After kissing him on the cheek gently. 

When Akira gets upstairs Ann and Yusuke turn to him. "Sorry guys." They just wave it off a little. "It's fine. But what took you guys so long?" He sees the raised eyebrow she sends Ryuji but he just brushes it off. "Dude was hidden really well. Really put Joker's skills to good use." Once everyone had turned back to Akira, Ryuji winks at him slightly. Akira just sighs and drops onto the couch. "I said I was sorry." Ryuji nods his head but otherwise ignores him before picking up a controller. Ann crawls up to Ryuji. "So nothing happened between you two?" Ryuji shook his head. "No! The dude was upset I'm not going to shove my feelings ontop of that." Ann nods slightly and moves back to petting Morgana. Akira picks up the second controller a few minutes later and sits down next to the blonde. They smirk at each other quickly before starting up a game. 20 minutes later and everyone had changed into pyjama's and were watching a film. About half way through Ryuji started falling asleep. "I'm gonna go to sleep." He gets up and starts moving to the bed. Akira smirks a little before looking up and smiling at him. Ryuji looks down at him and the two share a quick look. "Akiraaaa come cuddle with me." Akira chuckles at how he decided to say it but stands up. "Sure babe." He walks over to his bed and flops down with Ryuji. The three try to ask them questions but they're both pretending to be asleep and knowing how stubborn the two can be. They instead decide to let it go until the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you tell I really wanted coffee when I started this one?


	4. Try Harder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira is used to people hating him. But isn't used to people abusing his new best friends for no reason. Nor is he very happy about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Real quick this is a non thieves AU but the criminal record and being sent to Tokyo stuff still happens. Oh and like all the Kamoshida shit is happening just no thieves. ALSO! Kamoshida is a disgusting human and I wrote him as such please don't get mad at me for it

No one's P.O.V~

Akira is used to people hating him. No two ways about it. He's never been that person that _everyone_ loves. He always sticks his nose in where it doesn't belong. For example if someone is being bullied, or a stranger is being touched up by a drunk man on the side of the road. Even his own parents don't care for him that much. They love him, because he's their son. But they don't love him for any other reason. Akira already knows this, but it becomes abundantely clear to him that this is the truth when they decide to ship him off to Tokyo to live with someone they've never met and barely even spoken too. But for once in his life. Akira doesn't bother arguing. It won't do anything whether he chose to or not, but he's looking forward to it in a way. Sure he wishes he doesn't have a criminal record, but Tokyo has to be better than where he is now. But he knows it won't be. After all, having a criminal record isn't exactly going to help him blend in. 

That's why when Sojiro takes him to Shujin to get enrolled, he isn't suprised in the least by the way he is treated. He stays silent stood behind Sojiro infront of the principles desk. Only speaking when spoken to and biting back his natural cheek so hard, he causes the inside of his cheek to start bleeding. The drive back to the cafe is silent. Sojiro doesn't really care for Akira all that much, at least not at the moment but the boy hopes that can change. And Akira doesn't want to anger Sojiro or do anything to get himself kicked out. When they get back Akira goes straight up to the attic and goes to sleep. To numb to do anything else. 

When his first school day arrives, Akira is suprised to see that Sojiro had set out a breakfast for him. "I'm not going to make you go hungry. But eat quickly or you'll be late." Akira nods, scarfs down the curry, thanks his new guardian before heading to the train station. When he gets off at his stop he sees people his age wearing the same uniform as him. But while he wasn't going to talk to them, his neutral mood turns sour as he hears them talking about 'the transfer student with the criminal record'. He pushes past them and wonders how it got out. The principle said he wasn't going to release the information to the students, so it had to have been one of the teachers. But he can't think of why a member of staff would do that. He stands under the shelter of a store to hide from the rain so he can check his gps. As he does so a car pulls up. "You need a ride?" He looks up to see a middle aged man in the car and a blonde girl stood next to him. The girl gets smiles and gets into the car. But as rhe window rolls up he sees her face drop significantly. "Fucking Kamoshida." He turnsbhis head yet again to see another blonde stood beside him. This time a boy. "Kamoshida?" Akira asks him. "Yeah. The guy in that car. You are a Shujin student right? How do you not know him?" Akira turns back to the road where the car had been for a second. "I'm new." Ryuji nods his head. "That would explain why I've never seen you before. Second year?" Akira nods in response. Ryuji grins brightly. "Hey me too. Guess I'll see you around then." Akira smiles back and looks down at his phone. "Follow me. I know a shortcut." Akira puts his phone away and follows the blonde, trying to work out if it was real or bottled. He's leaning towards the latter. Akira follows the boy, he still hasn't caught his name down a couple back streets before they turn up at Shujin. "Thanks." Ryuji grins brightly. "No prob dude." They walk past the man from before on the way into the school. "New kid. Don't cause any trouble here. Especially if you're hangjng around with that traitor." He ignores him and keeps walking causing him to grab onto his wrist. "Did you just ignore me?" A group of students had stopped to watch the confrontation now. Including the two blondes he met. Well one blonde he met and one he saw. "So what if I did? I need to go meet my teacher now. So I'd appreciate it, if you'd let go of my wrist." Kamoshida, he remembers that's what the boy said his name was. "Don't push me, new kid. I can make your life a living hell." Akira just looks up at him and snatches his wrist back. "Go ahead and try." Kamoshida smirks, it's a nasty look on him. "Who do you think let loose about your criminal record." Akira smirks right back at him. Hiding his anger very well. "Thanks. Saved me the trouble." With that he storms into the school, angrier than he's been in a while. The students outside just stood around in shock as he walks inside. The female blonde runs round the side of the school while the boy follows after him. He can't see the ravenette anymore though so gives up and heads to his classroom. Kamoshida on the other hand is fuming. He knows since Akira didn't do anything, not even yelling, he can't pull one of his tricks yet. But he swears that he will destroy him, physcially or mentally. Whichever proves more satisfying. 

He meets his teacher at the faculty lounge as decided and she leads him to his classroom. "This will be your classroom for the rest of the year." Akira nods silently, not pushing his luck amymore after the stunt infront of the school. He gets bad vibes from that Kamoshida guy, not just because he was rhe one who leaked the info about his record. But he puts that aside for the mean time and finds his seat, which is directly behind the blonde girl from earlier. He tries his hardest to block out the whispers coming from every part of the classroom. Every single one of them is about his confrontation with Kamoshida. Luckily they cut off quickly when their teacher finally starts the lesson. It goes by rather quick but as he expected she picks on him for almost every question. Luckily Akira is smart and knows the answers to the questions. 

At the end of the day Akira just leaves the school grounds and heads to the train station. But he's stopped by the boy from before. "Hey dude! What was that about earlier?" Akira looks at him carefully. "Don't play dumb. What happened between you and Kamoshida?" Akira shrugs slightly unsure of how the boy expects him to answer. "Nothing happened. I just got a bad feeling from him." The blonde scoffs a little. "Bad doesn't even begin to describe it. He abuses students, and it's even worse for the girls." Akira's blood runs cold. "What?" Ryuji nods slightly. "Yeah why?" Akira shakes his head shaking himself out of that memory. "Nothing it's just. I do actually have a criminal record y'know. It was because I stopped a woman from getting raped but when it came down to it she protected him so the man sued me for assault." The boy, Akira is now pretty sure he's a bottle blonde after seeing his roots, sucks in a breath through his teeth. "Damn that sucks." Akira shrugs slightly. "It is what it is." Ryuji looks up at him brightly. "Why don't we take Kamoshida down?!" Akira shake shis head. "I can't. I'm on probation. Plus the police won't believe us without proof. Of which we don't have any." Ryuji smiles a little. "Au contaire. Contrare? Whatever. What I'm saying is that you're wrong." Akira laughs at his attempt at saying au contraire. "I don't think you noticed it. But Kamoshida has a stupidly strong grip." Pushing Akira's sleeve up he reveals a slight bruise. "What the? Okay but this isn't enough. We need to prove that he did it. For all the police now I could've done this to myself or let you do it." He falters slightly. "Argh fine. Give me your phone. I'll give you my number and we can think of a way to get proof." Akira nods fishing out his phone. "A legal way though please. I'd rather not actually go to jail." The blonde laughs but nods his head. "Obviously what were you expecting me to suggest? That we go steal his heart or something?" Akirs laughs at the suggestion. "I dunno. But that sounds funny." He looks down at the contact his new friend(?) made. "Nice to meet you Ryuji." Ryuji face palms quickly. "Right we never did names. Okay well you mine now but I still haven't caught yours." Akira smirks and looks down at his phone pulling up Ryuji's contact. 

**'I didn't throw it'**

Ryuji groans a little. "You really not gonna tell me?" Akira shrugs. "Maybe later. But seriously I have to go. My guardian will be pissed if I'm late." Ryuji just nods and waves him off. Watching his fluffy hair bounce as he runs for a train. He chuckles slightly before getting on his own.

**'You going to throw me your name yet?'**

**'Nah'**

**'Really dude? Then what am I meant to call you?'**

**'...'**

**'Uh oh'**

**'Call me Joker'**

**'Seriously?'**

**'Nope. I'm just kidding. My name's Akira'**

**'Akira huh? Suits you'**

**'Thank you?'**

**'You're welcome'**

**'Anyway'**

**'Are we going to find some evidence on Kamoshida tomorrow?'**

**'Sure'**

**'But before that I have a question'**

**'Shoot'**

**'Why did Kamoshida call you a traitor?'**

**'I'd... rather not talk about it. At least not over text. Can I talk to you tomorrow about it?'**

**'You don't have to if it's personal. Sorry that was my bad'**

**'No it's okay dude. After all you told me about your record'**

**'Alright but only if you're up to it you can back out tomorrow if yo want to'**

**'Thanks. Anyway night dude'**

**'Night'**

The next morning comes quickly, with Ryuji meeting Akira as he gets on his second train. "Sup Joker." Akira laughs a little at Ryuji's greeting. "Oh hey. You feeling up to it today by the way? Not now obviously. Just so I dom't accidentaly force you or something." Ryuji nods his head. "Yeah I'm good I can do it. Meet on the roof after school." Akira nods and drops the subject. Giving Ryuji as much time to prepare as he can. The two share a couple short conversations but most of the journey they just sit in a comfortable silence. When they get to school they see Kamoshida at the entrance again. Akira sees Ryuji tense beside him and swaps places with him, so that he would be walking past Kamoshida. He doesn't do anything today so they take it as a blessing and move inside quickly. "Thanks for that dude." Akira shrugs slightly. "It looked like you were scared to walk past him. What kind of friend would I be if I noticed and made you anyway." Ryuji smiles at him. "Still. Dude you don't even _flinch_ when he glares at you!" Akira shrugs again. "I'm used to people hating me. Adults and kids alike. Okay well not kid kids. Children actually seem to like me. But people from the ages of 15 to probably about 50 hate me." Ryuji just stares at his new friend. "Dude." The bell rings before he can say anything else. "I'll see you later yeah? Just remember no pressure. You don't have to tell me." With that he heads off to his class. 

Akira watches the clock carefully in his classes. He won't push Ryuji to tell him, but if he is willing, he wants to know why Ryuji is scared of/ hates him. Although he will admit he is scared to find out. Once the bell rings he grabs his stuff and goes to meet Ryuji. But is stopped by a hand on his arm. "You and Ryuji are planning something about Kamoshida aren't you?" He looks down at the blonde. "Why?" She looks up at him fiercly. "Let me help. He just threatened my best friend. I don't know what she'll do if he gets his disgusting hands on her but it won't be good. Please you _have _to let me help." He looks down and nods slightly. "Okay." She lets out a sigh of relief. "But Ryuji might be telling me something now I just need to make sure he's okay with you being there." She nods slowly. "Okay." He pulls out his phone and texts Ryuji. 

**'Dude. The girl who got into Kamoshida's car is going to help us. Is it okay with you if I bring her with me to meet you now?'**

**'Feel free to say no it's 100% your choice'**

**'Ann? Yeah that's fine. She already knows.'**

**'Okay. I'll meet you on the roof in a minute'**

**'Slow coach'**

**'Not my fault I got interrupted'**

Akira puts his phone away and turns back to her. "Yeah he says it's fine. He also said you know." She nods slowly. "I don't think I know the whole truth but yeah. I know what happened." Akira nods. "Let's go then." She picks up her bag and follows him out. "My names Ann by the way. Ann Takamaki." Akira looks down to smile at her. "Nice to meet you Ann. My name's Akira." She smiles slightly before sighing. "Look I should apologise to you. I believed all those rumours about you and then suddenly come up to you asking for favours when it suits me..." Akira cuts her off with a chuckle. "You believed _all _those rumours? Wow, there's the 16 main ones and then the roughly 7 variations of each of those. Damn you must've thought I was psychotic." He gives her a cheeky smile to let her know what he was doing. "Yeah I'm suprised I managed to sit infront of you for so long." Akira chuckles slightly. "But seriously though. Just so you don't need to apologise again later. I forgive you, it's water under the bridge. After all." He opens the door to the roof. "We have something more important to do now." She nods before walking onto to roof to be met by Ryuji. "Akira. Ann. Jeez can you two walk any slower?" Akira chuckles slightly but moves forwards and places his hands on Ryuji's shoulders and makes him take a few deep breaths and holding them before exhaling. Seeing him do this makes Ann wonder if he ever had or does deal with anxiety, as she knows from Shiho that that was a good way to bring yourself back under your own control. When Ryuji was calm again he sat down on one of the discarded chairs, Akira leaning on the storage container next to it, with Ann sitting on the table. "Okay. So... the reason I hate Kamoshida so much is because he broke my leg." Akira's eye twitches slightly. "He what?" Ryuji nods a little. "I was on the track team. Best runner on it. But them Kamoshida took over and it became hell. The others all put up with it but I couldn't. Then, when my dad running off after he got sick of beating me, he told the track team, and soon the whole school knew. I was so angry with him that I saw red and threw a punch. In retalliation. He broke my leg. He took away the one thing I was any good at and said it was in self defence. They even forced my mum to come in and apologise. I've been angry ever since that moment. He made a fool of her for something I did. The track team hate me now as well so everytime I see him I involuntarily flinch." Akira takes a few deep breaths to calm himself down. "Dude calm down." Akira took another deep breath. "I'm fine. But why did you want to help us so bad Ann? That leads me to believe he's done or is doing something to you as well." Ann nods slightly. "He's trying to force himself onto me. Says if i don't comply he'll take Shiho off the starting line up. That itself wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. But I'm scared that when I finally refuse he'll use Shiho instead. I don't want it to come to that." Akira feels his eye start twitching again. He turns around and punches the container he was leaning against. Just hard enough to scrape his knuckles. "Dude!" He shakes his head dismissing him. "I'm fine." He pulls his phone out quickly. "He'll still be here." He puts his phone into his pocket so that the camera was poking out of the top. "Where are you going?" Akira turns to them, with a look the _screams _anger. "I'm going to go get our proof." With that he pulls the door open and heads towards Kamoshida's office.

He takes a deep breath before opening his office door. "What do you want?" He asks coldly when he sees Akira in the doorway. "What the hell gives you the right to treat your students that way?!" He slams the door closed behind him. "You broke Ryuji's leg after _you_ provoked him! You treat the volleyball team like shit. Not to _mention_ your treatment of the girls! You _never_. _Never_! Have the right to lay a hand on a student the way you have, the amount of times you have." Kamoshida gets up from his seat glaring at Akira. "So what? What's your point boy. That I'm in the wrong? So what?! You don't see anyone stopping me. I can do whatever I want with the students. I can break your little friend Sakamoto's other leg if I felt like it. The track team and volleyball teams are nothing but objects to me. I could take that slut Takamaki any time I like." Akira started to feel sick listening to him speak. "And even if something happens to her. I have her friend Suzui to take instead." Akira glared at him harshly. "You make me sick." Kamoshida laughs. A disgusting evil laugh which makes Akira feel even more sick. "What are you going to do about it. I already told the whole school about your record. I could make your life a living hell _boy_." Akira looks up at him. Not backing down for a second. He has faith in his plan and that it will work. "I'd like to see you try. I'm used to people hating me so it will take a _lot_ more than you can give to break me. But go ahead." Kamoshida lifts his fist up and punches Akira in the face. His eye immediately bruises up. "Last chance. Get out of my office or I'll break you worse than I broke Sakamoto." Akira takes a deep breath and gets up slowly. "...Fine." Kamoshida looks down at him, a look of superiority written all over his face. But to Akira it's the look of a loser. His plan went perfectly. "Get out now before I decide to do somethibg worse." The ravenette nods and leaves the office. Making sure to not make eye contact as he closes the door. 

He takes a deep breath as he slides against the wall beside his office door before stopping the recording. He sees Ryuji and Ann stood next to him. "What the fuck happened in there?" Ryuji gasped loudly when he saw his black eye. "We need to get you some ice." Akira shakes his head quickly. "No! No time." Ann looks at him carefully. "What happened in there?" Akira smirks and picks his phone out of his pocket. His checks the footage quickly. It's not perfect but the audio is fine and you can clearly see Kamoshida's face. "My plan worked perfectly. I got our proof. Now come on. We need go get to the nearest police station quickly." Rhe two nod and they practically sprint out of the building.

When they gst to the nearest police station Akira walks up to the counter. "Can I help you? Oh no what happened to you?" Akira shakes his head and holds up his phone. "That doesn't matter. I'm fine. I have proof that a teacher at Shinju academy is abusing his students please who do we speak to about this?" The woman at the desk narrows her eyes at the three. "That's a very serious accusation. It isn't a joke." Akira nods quickly. "Trust me I know. But please if you don't believe me then here. Take a look." She watches the video in silence before lookig back up to the three in shock. "I'm so sorry." She waves over another officer. "Take my place?" He nods and she leads them into an interrogation room, where she has someone get some ice for Akira's eye. "I'm sorry about this but I do need to ask you all some questions." The three nod their heads before Ann speaks up. "Is it okay if I ask what happens in the video?" The police officer nods quickly. "Of course. But the contents may upset you." The two blondes nod as she plays the video for them. While it's playing an officer comes on with some ice for Akira's eye. He sighs heavily as he places it on his eye. He throws his head over the back of the chair in relief. As much as he was playing it off to be able to get here his eye really was hurting. The video cuts off after Akira leaves his office. The two turn around to face Akira who was still holding the ice pack to his very bruised eye. "You did a very brave thing young man. Stupid. But brave." Akira lowers his head to look at the three. "So what happens now?" The officer looks towards the camera in the room. We will need to take statements but as you have provided us with video graphic evidence where he basically confesses to everything." She turns to Akira for a second. "Which was very clever of you to think of." She gestures back to the camera. "Everything should move much quicker. We can have him in custody by tomorrow and in court in... I'd say three weeks to a month." Ann goes to say something but she calmly cuts her off. "Don't worry. He won't be allowed anywhere near you. However. I'm afraid statements won't be enough. We will need you to testify in court." Akira cuts in at this point. "Even me?" She nods calmly. "Shit. Sojiro's going to kill me. Sorry probably bad wording in a police station." The woman just brushes it off as Akira explains. "I'm here on probation. I stopped a woman getting raped the other month but the guy I shoved off of her claimed assault so I was sent here on probation." The officer nods in understanding. "I'm sorry but there's no other way. But it won't make your sentence any worse I promise you. It won't make it shorter but it may even help your record." Akira nods as she talks glad he won't get into any more legal trouble. "If it's okay with all of you we can take statements now and then you can go home." The three nod and the camera is set up. Ann goes first and tells her side of the story, crying a little as she does. Ryuji goes next and has to fight back the tears of anger fighting to escape his eyes. Akira goes last. He doesn't have much to say. Simply how Kamoshida released the information of his record against the principles orders. And how he filmed the video. As well as explaining that the black eye came from when Kamoshida punched him at the end of the video. Once they are all done the officers thank them for being so cooperative. As soon as they leave the station Ann and Ryuji jump onto Akira hugging him tightly. Both of them sobbing into a shoulder. "Thank you Akira." Ryuji sobs into his right shoulder. He hugs them back to the best of his ability before they let go. "Guess I should go explain this to Sojiro." He hugs them one last time, lingering a bit in the hug with Ryuji. 

As soon as Akira walks into the cafe he hears Sojiro swear at the counter. "What the fuck happened to you. You didn't get into a fight did you? Cause I will kick you out." Akira shakes his head and seeing that the cafe is closed decides to just tell him the truth right off the bat. "I got punched in the face by a teacher. Sojiro nearly drops the jar of coffee he's holding. "I'm sorry you what?" With that Akira hangs his head and explains everything. Sojiro just sighs. "I cannot believe you. I told you to stay out of trouble. _But_ you helped practically a whole school of students and as long as that officer was telling the truth. You can stay here. I assume you're going to court then?" Sojiro just nods his head. "Right. Well go to bed. Hopefully that shiner is better in the morning." Akira nods and walks towards the stairs. Sojiro stops at the door and calls out to him. "You did good kid. Now go to sleep." Akira nods again but this time smiles a little. 

~Time skip three weeks~

As the officer said three weeks after they went to the station Kamoshida was put on trial. Ann had gone in with Shiho and her parents. Akira was waiting for Ryuji's mum with him. After all it's not like his own parents were going to show up. "Akira. I'm scared." He sees the little twitch in Ryuji's leg and grabs one of his hands. "Ryuji. I promise you nothing bad will happen okay. I gave the police video evidence of him admitting to his crimes. He even punches me in it!" Ryuji laughs a little. "There is no way he's getti g out of this." He gives Ryuji a soft kiss on his forehead for reasurrance. The two are interrupted by a squeal behind them. They turn around to see Ryuji's mum stood their smiling. "So it was you who was willing to get punched in the face to help my little boy." Akira nods silently, fully aware of the fact that nearly every single adult hates him. The fear doesn't last long though as she pulls him into a tight hug. "Thank you." She whispers to him. He feels some tears drop onto his shoulder and pulls away. "Are you okay?" She nods her head quickly, wiping them away. "Yes. I've just been waiting for this bastard to recieve punishment after what he did to my son." Ryuji glances down at his leg before following his mum into the court. He's about to follow them before he heard a voice behind him. "Hey kid." He turns to see Sojiro stood behind him. "I thought you said you weren't going to come?" He shrugs. "I wasn't but I saw the news and I really realised how many people you helped." Akira smiles at him before they head into the court room. Ann and Ryuji wave him to where he's meant to sat. He drops in the middle of the two while Sojiro sits in the seats behind him. Ryuji and Ann both grab onto Akira as Kamoshida is led to the witness stand. Ann squeezes his arm while Ryuji, more discreetly squerzes his hand. He runs his thumb in circles over Ryuji's hand before sending a small smile to Ann to help her calm down. "It's okay you guys. He can't get out of it." The two calm down a little. Ann lets go of Akira's arm and Ryuji stops squeezing his hand as tightly. 

Akira was right. He can't get out of it. For every point he tried to defend against Akira's video would be played to cross examine. It was during the first testimonie, Ann's, that they _really _knew there was no way he was getting away with it. When the attorney asks Ann if she ever showed any inkling of attraction towards Kamoshida and she truthfully denies it, the man in question jumps out of his seat to yell at her. "You lying whore!" Ann flinches in her seat. Once she was excused from the stand she all but ran back to her seat where she fought back her tears. "You did great okay Ann? Don't listen to him." She sniffles one last time before nodding her head. "Yeah you're right." Next up was Ryuji. Kamoshida didn't make an outburst during Ryuji's statement. Which is lucky because Akira isn't sure he could've stayed calm. Then all too soon it's his turn on the stand. All the calmness he had while looking after the two blondes immediately turned into rage as soon as he locks eyes with Kamoshida. Ryuji notices the look in his eyes and silently hopes he has just enough restraint left to stay calm. "Why did you go go Kamoshida's office after school that day?" Akira looks to the attorney instead. "Because I was talking with Ryuji and Ann who I had only recently met and they told me what he did to them." The attorney waits for him to finish his answer. "So I knew something had to be done about him. I had a bad feeling about him from the minute I saw him. But after talking go those two I couldn't allow it to go on anymore." The attorney nods slightly. "So you went to confront him?" Akira nods. "Then why did you set up your phone to record if you only went to confront him?" Akira knows he's only doing his job. But he really hates that he's defending the scumbag. "Because I didn't just go to confront him. I went with a plan to get him to confess. I figured that the best way to do that would be to rile him up by accusing him and saying he was in the wrong." The attorney nods slightly. "I'll come back to the the video. However, you said you had a bad feeling about him since you first saw him. Care to explain?" Akira nods before takinv half a second to gather his thoughts. "The first time I saw Kamoshida he offered Ann a ride to school. She got into his care however before it drove of her smile dropped immediatley. Then once me and Ryuji, who I ran into almost immediately after that, got to the school we ran into him again. He told me not to cause any trouble. Especially if I was hanging around Ryuji. I ignored him initially and he caught my wrist and dragged me back to face him. That was when I _knew_ something was wrong about him." The scribe finishes typing before the attorney speaks again. "Well then. Can you describe what happeba in your video for us?" Akira tilts his head slightly, silently asking why he has too but nods his head anyway. "When I got into his office I immediately accused him of breaking Ryuji's leg. Treating his teams like garbage and that the way he treats the female students is worse. He goes on to ask me what my point is and I said he makes me feel sick. He then says that..." He glances at his friends before answering. "He says that he could break Ryuji's other leg. That... he could take Ann whenever he wanted and that if something happened to her he still had Shiho." He takes a deep breath to rid himself of the hatred he holds towards the man. "He tells me at that point that he could make my record worse, that he could make my life a living hell. I tell him I'd like to see him try at this point he punches me in the face. He gives me one more chance to get out before he breaks me more than he broke Ryuji. I didn't waste any time knowing I had at least some proof against him and leave." The attorney nods once again. "I have one more question for you." Akira jolds his breath waiting for what he'll ask. "You already have a criminal record. Why should we trust what you say and evidence you produced." Ryuji sighs slightly. 'There goes calm Akira' he thinks to himself. Akira takes a deep breath trying to stay calm. It doesn't work all that well. "My criminal record exists because I stopped a woman from being raped. But no you're right why trust someone who's already on the system? But I'll be honest with you. I don't care if you don't believe what I say. But that video is absolute proof and you can't refute it, no matter who it came from. Even if you can there are two more witnesses sat right over there who aren't on the system." He is excused quickly and sends a harsh glare over to Kamoshida which is returned in full. As soon as Akira sits down Ryuji can tell he's fuming. He grabs his hand softly and feels Akira calm down. He smiles as Akira rubs a few circles into his skin. 

The jury find him unanimously guilty causing all three teenagers to sag in relief. Ryuji jumps onto his boyfriend happily. He whispers thank you's into his shoulder as Akira hugs him back. "Hey. He's gone. You did it." Ryuji and Ann look up at him. "No Akira this was all you. Without your video we never would've put him away." Akira laughs awkwardly at the praise. "Wanna come round to mine tonight and play videogames?" He looks up at Sojiro quickly. "I suppose you earned it. Also I'm only going to say this once so listen close. "I'm proud of you." Akira smiles brightly. Never in his life had an adult ever said those words to him. "Thank you." Sojiro raises an eyebrow at him. "What's up with you?" Akira shakes his head. "Nothing. Just never heard anyone say anything like that to me before. Took me by suprise." Everyone in earshot looks over to him in shock. "No one? Not even you're parents?" Akira laughs a little at that. "Hah! They barely acknowledge that I exist." Ann and Shiho jump onto him quickly. "We're proud of you Akira!" Ryuji's mum pulls him into a quick hug. "I'm thankful for you." He starts blushing when Ryuji jumps on him and makes it much worse with four more words. "I love you, Akira." Kamoshida yells over to the group loudly. "I hate you Akira Kurusu!" Akira laughs a little. "Now that one I'm used to." He turns to Kamoshida and gives him a little wave. "I hate you too you scumbag." Kamoshida growls as he's draggged away causing him ti laugh. "You had a bad childhood didn't you?" He just shrugs at Ann's question. "Probably." Soon after they all head off. Ann goes home, Shiho coming to spend the night, Sojiro goes back to the cafe. While Akira follows the Sakamoto's home. "I'm sorry it took so long Ryuji." Ryuji turns to look at him. "What are you on about. It still happened. He'll never treat another student like that again. Not that he could ever get another teaching job. Besides he'll probably be having nightmares about this day for years." Akira laughs a little with him. "I'll tell you boys what. Because of everything you've been through I'll order you pizza. So go lie down and sleep off all this stress." The two boys nod and move into Ryuji's room before practically collapsing onto his bed. The barely have any time to gst comfy before they're both asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bare in mind I have no idea how the legal system works so I just tried to make some believable sounding stuff (except the end bit)


	5. Prison Cell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira has a palace. The inside of their leaders heart is apparently a lot darker than they thought. So I keep using the same thieves but I'll add more once I get further into the game.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! So I know Persona holders can't have Palaces but I really liked this idea. (It sorta came from a weird daydream I had where the velvet room is the last room of his palace)

No one's P.O.V~

"Akira Kurusu, Prison." The gate to the metaverse opened quickly and the thief ran inside. "Holy shit, Arsene was telling the truth..." The thief stares up at the newley discovered Palace. It was a dark gray building no easy exit or entrance in sight besides the main one. "How is this even here? I don't have any warped views or whatever." Suddenly a guard walks up to him. "What are you doing out of your cell?" He freezes and jumps back on instinct. "Come with me please." He nods slightly, if this _is _his Palace, they shouldn't take anything away from him. "What is this place?" The guard looks back to him. "This is how you view society. As a prison and you are a prisoner." He leads him all the way through the palace to the last room. "Wait but if this is my Palace, and I'm a prisoner in a prison how does it work?" The guard looks to him and stops unlocking the door. "Well, you have control here however you are nothing but a prisoner. But you can't really do much here as a result of being a prisoner." Akira nods slightly as the guard finishes unlocking the big door infront of him. "Okay... But what is my treasure? What caused this place to form?" The guard looks back to him as the door swings open. "Your record of course. What else would it be?" Akira nods his head slightly, in retrospect it is a dumb question. "Wait so can I leave this place and if I do is there no Akira here?" The guard nods again. "That's right. However, if your friends were to infiltrate the palace without you, you would appear here anyway. Unlike everyone else with a Palace, a Persona wielder cannot split themselves in two. The persona fills that role already." Akira nods slightly and walks into the room. The door closes behind him. It's a replica of his bedroom at home but with another door at the back of it. He pulls his phone out and leaves the metaverse, his head feels like splitting with all the information. 'Where did Arsene come from though? Igor made me fuse him.' He doesn't put too much more thought into it as he appears outside Leblanc. He walks inside without the usual greeting as they're still open. He simply makes his way up the stairs to the attic. When Morgana greets him he just waves off his questions and drops down on his bed. Too tired to do anything but sleep.

The next morning Akira wakes up later than usual, still before 7 though. But it's a sunday so it's not like he has anything to do. He looks down at Morgana who is still curled up at the foot of his bed. He gets up, dressed and out of the house without making Morgana so much as stir from his sleep. They'd just finished a palace, meaning that he had time to investigate his own. He turns down one of the alleyways before pulling out his phone. He takes a deep breath as he opens the navigation app. "Akira Kurusu. Prison." He steps through to the metaverse and is once again met with the plain grey building that acts as his palace. He looks around to see if there's an entrance to the velvet room here. He sees Justine stood outside the gated door as always. He nods his head slightly at the information, it seems to function as a normal palace. He sneaks forwards trying to find a way to sneak in. Just incase he isn't meant to be walking around. He finds one at the top of the roof after a few minutes of walking. It drops him into a vent, hiding him from view for at least a little bit. "Okay Joker. Let's find out how big this place is." He stays silent after that, barely breathing and sneaking his way through the air vents. 

After a while of crawling he wishes he had Ryuji by his side. While they would still have to be quiet, having the blonde in his presence always makes him feel better. But he doesn't want to drag Ryuji, or any of the thieves into this. 

He finally makes his way infront of the big door he saw before. He drops down from the vents and lands infront of the guard. "Let me in?" He nods and unlocks the door. "That is my job." Akira turns to him before the door is closed. "What exactly is your job?" The shadow answers quickly. "To guard your cell. You are the ruler of this palace but as you are a prisoner, the shadows in this palace while below you, are here to keep you in your cell. If they catch you wandering around they will try to put you back in your cell." Akira nods and walks into his replica room as the door closes behind him again. He drops onto the bed in the room, perching on the edge of it. Looking around he sees that everything is exactly the same as it is back home. Everything except, for the blue door at the back of the room. 

He makes his way towards it slowly. When he stands infront of it he grabs onto his dagger a little tighter and opens it. His dagger nearly drops out of his hand upon opening the door. "What?" Igor looks up to see him. "So you found it then. This place." Akira retightens his grip. "What is this place. Why didn't you tell me. And don't say because I didn't ask." Igor smiles manically at the teen while Caroline and Justine glare at him infront of his usual cell. "But you didn't ask." Akira groans. "Okay well would you have told me if I did?" Igor's smirk grows. "No." Putting the knife away he crosses his arms. "So why does this place exist?" Leaning back in his chair Igor starts to explain. "For the same reason that this velvet room exists." Akira nods a little. "Okay. So what happens to this room if the Palace were to dissapear?" Igor shrugs. "The velvet room and your Palace while connected are seperate. The room can exist anywhere, however it _chose_ to manifest here." Akira nods again. "Okay. So is there any reason to keep the Palace?" Igor shakes his head. "I suppose not. But I suppose I should tell you, you cannot destroy your Palace. After all you are the ruler you cannot steal the treasure as it already belongs to you." Akira falters slightly. "So to get rid of the Palace. I have to tell the others and let them take care of it." Igor shakes his head a little. "Not exactly. You can complete the Palace wit them. However, once you get to the final room. Whether you're physically here or not you will be transferred to that room and have to fight them." Akira falters a little. "Okay.... but what happens if I don't tell them and I keep the Palace?" Igor thinks for a second. Tapping his fingers on the sheet infront of him. "Nothing I suppose, at least nothing too important. But you will never be able to escape the feeling of being a prisoner, that you aren't worthy of anything." Akira doesn't say anything so Igor continues talking. "If you can live like that, then there's no need to destroy the Palace. But if you want to get rid of this feeling. And I have a feeling you do. Then yes. You need to tell them." Akira nods and turns back to the door he walked through. "Okay well.... thanks for the information." Igor just watches as the teen leaves the room. 

Akira drops onto the bed again when the door closes behind him. "I need to get back. I have a lot to think about." He leaves the room and makes his way to an exit point. Doing his best to avoid any Shadows on the way. Once he gets outside he sees a door to the velvet room beside the exit as always. Justine is stood watch beside it, staring at the boy. He can't quite discern the emotion on her face. Whether she's sad, or just thinking. He pushes it aside and walks through the exit. Turning up outside Leblanc. He walks in through the door to see his friends sat at one of the booths. Well three of them. Yusuke isn't here. "Guys?" The two blondes turn around, startling the cat lying on the back of the chair. "Akira! Where have you been?" He rubs his neck a little. Noticing Sojiro isn't behind the counter he sighs in relief that he can say Mementos. "I was in Mementos." Ann nods a little but Ryuji and Morgana aren't convinced? "It wouldn't be the first time you've gone on your own, but you always have a bit of a limp when you get back from walking on the tracks." Ryuji nods in agreement with Morgana. "Besides when you weren't even reading your texts I _checked_ Mementos. You weren't there." Akira sighs slightly. "Mementos is a big place Ryuji." The bottle blonde nods his head. "It is indeed, but there weren't any missing or injured Shadows indicating you'd ran from a fight or killed any." Akira sighs again. "Is it that big of a deal?" Ann nods her head quickly. "Of course it is! You've been MIA since this morning even Sojiro was worried about you." Akira frowns at that. "Look I'm sorry for worrying you guys. I just needed some time to myself." Ryuji turns to the other thieves. "Ann. Take Morgana home for the night. Okay? I'll talk to Akira. See if he'll tell me the truth." Ann nods slightly and picks Morgana up. "Okay. Well I'll see you later then." Ryuji nods his head. "See you later." Akira turns to the blonde. "Ryuji. It's nothing." Ryuji glares at him slightly, grabs his wrist and pulls him into the booth. Akira blushes at the contact but forces himself to calm down. "Bullshit. Something's wrong Akira. Just tell me what it is?" Akira crosses his arms and leans into the seat. "It's nothing." Ryuji glares at him silently. Akira decides to lie. It's probably just as taxing on his emotions but he has wanted to tell Ryuji for a while. "It's just.... I have a crush on one of the thieves." Ryuji's glare drops, his face dropping as well. Almost like he knows it isn't what's really bothering him. "Who?" Akira looks up at him silently. After a few seconds Ryuji catches on and points to himself. "Me?" Akira nods, a gentle blush spread across his cheeks. "Dude I...." Akira looks away. "It's fine. I know you're straight or that you at least don't like me like that. I just wanted to tell you." Ryuji stares at him for a couple more seconds. "Akira I'm not an idiot. I know I act like one but I'm not." Akira frowns slightly. He knows Ryuji isn't an idiot, nor was he trying to make him out to be one. He was just hoping that it would distract him. "I know Ryuji." Ryuji smiles at him, a blush spread across his face. "So will you tell me where you've been all day?" Akira sighs a little. "I wasn't lying you know. I really do like you." Ryuji blushes again. "I really like you too Akira. So please. Tell me." Akira nods slightly. "Fine.... I was in a Palace." Ryuji narrows his eyes at him. "Whose? I didn't think we were working a Palace at the minute. Unless I missed a meeting or something." Akira pulls out his phone. "Want me to show you?" Ryuji pauses for a second. "Shouldn't we bring the others? It'll be dangerous just us two." Akira shakes his head. "We'll be fine." He stands up from the booth and motions for Ryuji to do the same. He does so as Akira takes a deep breath. "You okay Dude? Are you close with the person." Akira opens up the navigation app. "You could say that." Taking one last deep breath he looks away from Ryuji towards his phone. "Akira Kurusu. Prison." He hears Ryuji gasp as he gives the phone their destination. But he doesn't have time to say anything before the prison building is infront of them and their clothes change. 

Skull looks to the leader quickly. "Joker...." Joker looks away from his best friend. "Skull it's not what you think I promise you." Skull looks to the building. "What is it then?" Joker gestures to the building. Without speaking Skull's question is answered as a Shadow walks up to Joker. "Out of your cell again? Not a very good thief are you, getting seen like this." Skull watches in silence as Joker follows the Shadow into the building, through it past empty cells all the way to the back of the building. He slips through the door just as it closes once Joker is shown inside. "So you're the prisoner. Not the warden." Joker nods silently. "What is this room." His leader drops onto the bed like it's his own. "It's my room from back home." Skull looks around a little. "It's small isn't it? I mean damn Dude it's smaller than the attic at the cafe." Joker nods laughing a little. "I know." He allows the blonde to inspect the room before he gets to the door at the back. "No! Don't open that door." Ryuji lowers his hand. "Why?" Akira waits for him to move his hand completely. "Because I'll be forced to fight you if you do." Skull takes a few steps away from the door for good measure. "What are you going to do?" Joker shrugs. "I don't know. I want to get rid of it. But I don't want to have to fight you." Skull sighs a little and places a hand on Jokers shoulder. He watches as the thief fiddles with his bright red gloves as usual. "Let's get out of here. We can tell the others and think of something to do about it." Joker nods and opens the door. "You can just open that?" Joker nods laughing a little. "I might be a prisoner but it is still my Palace after all." But I don't know if you'd be able to open it without me." Skull nods and follows Joker to the closest exit.

When they leave the Metaverse they end up back outside Leblanc. "So.... Palace business aside, are we just going to ignore the fact that we confessed earlier?" Akira chuckles at Ryuji's question. "I don't plan on it. But it depends on what you want to do about it?" Ryuji blushes a little. "I don't know. I'm just happy that you feel the same way." Akira rolls his eyes. "Okay. So do you want to go out sometime?" Ryuji smiles and his blush grows deeper. "I'd love to." Akira smiles down at him. "Can we wait till tomorrow to tell those three?" Ryuji nods quickly. "Sure. It's your Palace after all." Akira smiles down at him again. 

The next morning Akira and Ryuji text the other three. Or at least Ann and Yusuke, knowing Morgana would be reading the text over Ann's shoulder. 

**'Guys I'm just gonna come out and say it. Akira needs our help'**

**'You couldn't sugar coat it a little? For me?'**

**'Not really. Or else you'd twist my words so that everything seemed fine'**

**'He has a point Akira'**

**"Yes yes fine I get it'**

**'What would it be you need our help with Akira?'**

**'It's not that big of a deal'**

**'Liar**

**'Akira has a Palace, it's a prison'**

**'What?'**

**'How?'**

**'Not like that guys! He doesn't *have* prisoners he *is* the prisoner'**

**'Wouldn't he be the ruler of the Palace though?'**

**'I am but I'm also the prisoner'**

**'But who would we have to fight to destroy it?'**

**'....'**

**'Akira?'**

**'....' **

**'We'd have to fight Akira'**

**'What?!'**

**'We can leave it guys. It's not like I'm going to die'**

**'We are not going to leave it Akira! You explained to me why it exists and what happens if it stays' **

**'What happens?'**

**'I promised Akira I wouldn't say'**

**'Alright. But we're going to help too'**

**'Akira isn't coming with us' **

**'Why?'**

**'Because it's *his* Palace. Besides we'd have to fight him before stealing the treasure. It isn't fair on him'**

**'Nor is it fair to ship me off!'**

**'Akira I am not going to make you fight your way through your own subconcious before having to fight you'**

**'.... okay fine'**

**'Thank you Kira'**

**'Kira?'**

**'Oh right'**

**'We may of sort gotten together last night'**

**'What! Why didn't you text me Ryuji!!'**

**'Congratulations you two'**

Akira is basically kicked out of the group chat at this point. Much to his dismay. So instead, he falls onto his bed and complains to Ryuji about being bored. "Kira. Dude I love you but you're killing me here." Akira jolts up quickly. "Do you know what you just said?" Ryuji looks over to him silently. "Ryuji you said you love me." Ryuji blushes a little. "Well I do love you so...." Akira is the one to blush this time. "I love you too Ryuji." He kisses Ryuji on the cheek. "But I love my coffee more. So you can continue planning on how to defeat me." Ryuji laughs a little but turns back to his phone. "We're gonna try." Akira chuckles and leaves to make a coffee before the cafe opens. A few minutes later he drops a coffee on his desk and goes back downstairs. "Thanks Sojiro!" Ryuji looks up from his phone when he smells curry. "Food!" Akira just laughs at his boyfriend and gives him the plate. "Eat up. You'll need strength to take me down." He jokes teasingly. "We really will." Akira frowns at the blonde. "Ryuji. I have absolute faith that you guys can do this." Ryuji just keeps eating his curry. "Ryuji. You can do it." The hungry teen looks up and nods once before shovelling more rice into his mouth. 

The next week was lonely for Akira. He wanted to stay out of everyone's way so he didn't cause any trouble for them. He didn't know how much progress they had made until he finds 2 calling cards in his room. The first one is the generic Phantom Thieves calling card. But the second one clearly came from Ryuji. It was bright red like the other with their logo on. But it was hand written and said 'Bring your A game Joker' in bold black letters. Akira just laughs and lies on his bed waiting to be transported to the velvet room for the fight. 

20 minutes later he feels himself fall asleep. When he wakes up he's in his prisoner clothes in his usual cell. The three thieves stood infront of it, with Igor sat behind his desk. Caroline stood infront of the entrance to the room and Justine infront of his cell. "Igor why am I in here?" He just turns to face him slowly. "Because the fight hasn't started yet." Joker looks to the warden infront of him. "Justine. Open the door." She nods and silently turns to unlock it. "Thank you." She nods and as she unlocks the door the ball and chain attached to his ankle dissapears. He steps out of the cell and his clothes change into his Joker outfit. "Wait Igor. What are the outcomes of this?" Igor laughs slightly and dissapears. The twin wardens dissapearing soon after. "Bastard. Never answers my questions." He feels his feet take two steps forwards but doesn't move his legs. "I have a feeling I'm about to lose conciousness. So just know I'm sorry for anything I'm about to do." The thieves he's usually in command of nod silently and get into a fighting stance. The last thing Akira sees before the fog completely fills his mind is Ryuji. The last thing he thinks is that he hopes he doesn't hurt him. 

Once the fog clears from Joker's eyes he looks up to see Skull grabbing his record. He looks him over quickly only seeing a few scratches. Looking to the others though, he sees that Mona was knocked out while Panther and Fox aren't in great shape. "Guys. I'm sorry." They all look over to him quickly but before anything else happens Joker passes out. He hears footsteps and shouting but can't tell who they're from. 

When he wakes up again, he's lying on his bed in the attic of Leblanc. He sits up to see a glass of water on the windowledge. He downs it quickly, his throat feels dry. Looking around the room he sees Ryuji passed out on the couch. He stands up and walks towards him. "Ryu." He shakes his shoulder a little, hoping to wake him up. "Kira.... No.... 5 more minutes." Akira laughs a little but shakes him again. "Ryuji." This time the blonde jolts up, blinks a couple of times and then launches himself onto Akira. "Kira! You woke up!" Akira laughs and hugs him back. "Thank you Ryuji. Thank you." The two boys sit like that for a little while until Ryuji yawns. Laughing a little Akira helps him up and pulls him towards the bed. "Come on. You can sleep on the bed. You earnt it." Ryuji just laughs and flops down with Ryuji allowing the dark hair teen to curl into him. "Night Akira." Akira places a kiss on the blondes cheek. "Night Ryuji." The two boys fall asleep quickly despite the chill in the attic.


	6. Jealousy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryuji gets jealous of their new friend and refuses to admit it until he's confronted about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooooo I met Akechi and I already don't like him
> 
> Also Ryuji's mum doesn't have a canon name so I'm calling her Michiko, Michiko Sakamoto

Ryuji Sakamoto is a lot of things. He's a delinquent, mamma's boy, bad student, phantom thief. But one thing he is _not _is jealous. 

He's not jealous of their new member and friend. Makoto Niijima, or Queen. Absolutely not. The way Akira has been spending all of his time with her to help integrate her into the group easily. The way Makoto immediately goes to him for help. He knows it's wrong. He knows it isn't her fault and that Akira is just being the same helpful theif that he always is. Neither of them are to blame. He distances himself from Akira because he hates the feeling of jealousy. Hates that he feels so possessive over someone he has no right to feel possessive about. They aren't dating heck he doesn't even think Akira likes dudes, not with the way girls throw themselves at him. Ryuji himself only accepted his sexuality a few weeks ago. He still likes girls, he's bisexual with a preferance to girls. All the talk about girls up until now was his way of trying to ignore it, change or at least hide it. He wants to talk to his mum about it soon, he might today when they leave Mementos. He didn't want to come today, Queen is in the line up to get her used to fighting, but so is Ryuji. Luckily it was just a short run so they're already leaving. Once Joker tells them all that they're heading out he immediately heads for the train home. Because of this he misses the confused glance Akira gives him before getting on his own train to get back to the cafe. 

Once he gets back to their apartment he sees his mum is sat on the couch with a cup of tea. "Hi Yuji. How was school?" Ryuji gives his usual response, a shrug of his shoulders. "I, uh, I actually wanted to talk to you about something." His mum immediately sits up straigther, more awake than before. "Is everything okay?" Ryuji nods and quickly moves to sit beside his mum on the couch. "Yeah, I'm not in trouble it's nothing like that." Michiko sighs in relief before looking back up at him. "Then what's wrong." Ryuji takes a deep breath, looking from his mum to the door, wondering whether he could run away from the conversation. "Well. I'm bisexual. I've only known for a week or two but I wanted to tell you." Michiko wastes no time in embracing her son. "Ryuji. Nothing could make me love you any less alright?" Ryuji sighs in relief and returns the hug. Michiko lets go and faces her son with a smirk. "So.... anything going on with you and Akira?" Ryuji blushes heavily and waves his hands in front of his face. "It.... It's not like that mum!" His mum laughs softly but drops the subject, for now. She stands up and walks into their small kitchen. "How about some dinner?" Ryuji smiles at her. "I'll sort out the table." His mum nods in agreement and turns to their half empty fridge.

It takes three weeks, after that night, for Ryuji to admit he was jealous. They're in Mementos completing requests and Joker has saved Queen from a hit that would have taken her out of the fight. After getting rid of the shadow he turns to Queen quickly to patch her up while Mona helps Panther. "Are you okay Queen?" Queen nods quickly as the raven casts a few spells to heal her injuries. "Glad to hear it." Queen pulls him into a hug. "Thank you Joker. That was a reckless thing to do though." Joker just laughs it off. "I'm fine." He looks up to Skull. "Skull you hurt?" Skull shakes his head quickly, even though he did get some injuries in that fight. "No I'm fine. You need to heal yourself though." Joker looks him over, unsure if he's lying or not, but gives up and calls out a persona to heal himself. Panther immediately pulls him away. "Sit." He does as he's told and sits on the cold Mementos floor. "I only have dia but you aren't too hurt so it'll do." Skull stays silent as she heals him.

Once he's healed she crouches down in front of him. "What's your deal Skull? You've been acting weird recently." He turns to face the other blonde. "No I haven't." Panther scoffs slightly. "Please I've known you long enough. Joker's noticed too." Skull sours with the information. "If he's noticed why hasn't _he_ asked me what's wrong?" She rolls her eyes, irritated. "Because you're being off _with_ him. Apprently you aren't texting him as much and you're staying away from him. He doesn't want to ask because he thinks he's upset or angered you. He's trying to give you space to calm down" Ryuji turns to look at a now healed Joker who was talking to Queen, his face immediately sours again. "Now you probably are upset over something involving him, but I know it would be almost impossible for him to anger you so there's something else to it." She follows his gaze to where their leader is sat. He's talking to Queen with a worried look on his face while she glances towards the two blondes. Panther however doesn't think Skull can see the expressions and just sees the two of them. "Ah." She starts. "The green-eyed monster." She stands up, brushes her hands off and looks over to Joker who was now talking with Fox and Mona. She heads towards the leader and taps him on the shoulder. "Me and Ryuji are gonna have to leave it here for today, I need his help with something. Will you guys be okay on your own?" Joker looks down at his phone at the list of requests. He then looks back up at Panther, his gaze dropping to Skull for a second. "We'll finish the last two tomorrow. We'll give you a lift up. Everyone's getting tired anyway." She nods as Mona turns back into a car and everyone climbs into it. Fox climbs into the front with Joker asking him for help with his next painting. 

Once they leave Mementos Ann drags Ryuji to the diner in Shibuya. "So you're jealous of Makoto?" She asks once their drinks arrive. Ryuji splutters and tries to find his words. "Ryuji, nothings going on between them. Makoto wanted help getting accustemed to everything and who better to ask for help than Akira?" Ryuji sighs and drops his head. "I know Ann. I know it's not their fault but I can't help it." Ann nods silently sipping on her drink. "Frankly I think it's cute that you like Akira." Ryuji groans in response. "Ann it doesn't matter whether it's cute or not he's not gay." Ann bursts into laughter as soon as the word leaves his mouth. "_That_ is the funniest joke you've ever told Ryuji. Akira Kurusu is _not _gay?" She starts giggling again. "What's so funny?" She sobers up slightly and looks back to him. "Ryuji, he's definitely gay. He's probably the gayest person you'll ever meet. And that's coming from me! I've been in love with Shiho since like a week or two after meeting her!" Ryuji scrambles for his words. "But.... Makoto!" Is the best be can come up with. "Is a friend. Nothing more." Ryuji drops his head onto the table. "So I've been jealous of her for nothing?" Ann laughs again whacking him on the head slightly. "Yes you idiot! Now go tell him!" Ryuji picks his head up quickly. "I can't." Ann frowns. "Why not?" Ryuji holds his hands out, gesturing to her. "Because you said it yourself! He thinks I'm mad out him." Ann rolls her eyes in exasperation. "So go and explain to him that you're _not_!" Ryuji scampers for the door causing Ann to chuckle one last time. 

He gets to Leblanc half an hour after it closes. He phones Akira immediately. "Ryuji?" He feels his heart stammer at Akira's voice. "I'm outside. Lemme in?" He hears Akira laugh before he's hung up on. A minute later Akira is opening the door. "What's wrong? You haven't spoken to me in a month so something must be up." Ryuji feels his heart break at Akira's tone. The worlds, while they sound harsh, hold little to no edge but plenty of hurt. "Akira I'm sorry. I've been really stupid. Just let me explain." Akira nods and lets him in. "Akira you didn't do anything I'm sorry for ignoring you I just. You and Makoto look so close and I got jealous." Akira laughs slightly. "Wait. Did you think me and Makoto...?" Ryuji nods silently allowing Akira to laugh. "Dude. Why would you think that. I'm like, super gay." Ryuji nods and rubs his neck. "Well yeah but. Girls drape themselves over you for your looks. I mean why wouldn't they. You're drop dead gorgeous. Dude." Akira smiles softly. "Ryuji. What are you trying to say. I can tell you've got a point in there somewhere." Ryuji smiles slightly and takes a deep breath. "I'm trying to say that I love you Dude. I was too blind to see it for a while and then I was to jealous to do anything. Akira smiles at him, before moving towards him with all the grace a phatom thief should. Akira places a finger under the blondes chin. "Can I?" Ryuji nods his head. Akira smirks and pulls Ryuji closer to him. He places his other hand on Ryuji's waist to do so before kissing him. Ryuji sighs into the kiss and wraps his arms around Akira's neck. Usually he would hate being in the 'girls' position, but right now he couldn't care less. Akira is kissing him like there's no tomorrow. His lips are chapped but they're also soft. Ryuji figures it's probably a mixture of him biting his lips all day every day and that lip scrub he stole from Ann a while ago. When they pull away, lungs screaming for air, Akira is smiling down at him. Ryuji smiles as well messing with the curls at the back of Akira's head. "Staying here tonight?" Ryuji grins. "Like the last month never happened." Akira pouts jokingly. "Aww but then I wouldn't be able to do this." He leans down and kisses Ryuji again. Ryuji laughs a little. "True. Lemme just text my mum real quick so I don't worry her." Akira nods and leans against the counter allowing Ryuji to take his phone out. 

After texting his mum Akira leads him upstairs and drops onto his bed. Morgana stirs from where he's sleeping and looks up at the raven. "Akira why are you up?" Akira rolls his eyes softly at the cat. It isn't even that late. "Ryuji's staying the night." Morgana looks up to Ryuji who was stood on the other side of him. Mona nods and sits up. "Is he sleeping on the couch?" Akira looks up at him tilting his head slightly, Ryuji thinks it's absolutely adourable. "Yeah I'll sleep on the couch it's cool." Akira hims slightly. "You sure?" Ryuji nods. "I can't ask you to sleep on the couch. It's your room." Akira sighs and rolls his eyes. "Hmm now that I think about it there should be just enough room for you on the bed too Ryuji." Ryuji just blushes as Akira looks up at him. "Ah right. Cool." Akira just laughs and pulls Ryuji down. "Come on we're still meeting up with the other's tomorrow yeah?" Ryuji nods silently. Akira drops his head onto his shoulder and whispers to him. "Don't worry Ryuji. Makoto isn't going to steal me away." Ryuji smiles slightly before going to sleep. Glad Ann called him out on his bullshit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this has nothing to do with the one shot but Madarame's boss battle is BULLSHIT I beat Kamoshida first time, same with Kaneshiro but Madarame literally took me 2 months because I just couldn't do it
> 
> Also tip for Kaneshiro if you *do* struggle with it I used Joker, Skull, Panther and Queen (Makoto) make sure Joker has a healing persona with at least Media use him as a healer for any and all injuries once Kaneshiro brings out the robot, you can throw something if you want but I didn't just keep attacking him (I blew up the pig but you could get him) I was level 26 when I went up against him but I would recommend at least lvl 25. Also have some SP recovery items as Joker is gonna use a lot of SP healing everyone all the time


End file.
